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Happy Feet
Happy Feet is a 2006 computer-animated musical comedy film directed, produced, and co-written by George Miller. It stars the voices of Elijah Wood, Brittany Murphy, Robin Williams, Carlos Alazraqui, Lombardo Boyar, Jeffrey Garcia, Johnny Sanchez, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Magda Szubanski, Miriam Margolyes, E.G. Daily, Hugo Weaving and Anthony LaPaglia. An international co-production between the United States and Australia, the film was produced at Sydney-based visual effects and animation studio Animal Logic for Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, and Kingdom Feature Productions, and was released in North American theaters on November 17, 2006. It is the first animated film produced by Kennedy Miller and Animal Logic. Though primarily an animated film, the film does incorporate motion capture of live action humans in certain scenes. The film was simultaneously released in both conventional theatres and in IMAX 2D format. The studio had hinted that a future IMAX 3D release was a possibility. However, Warner Bros., the film's production company, was on too tight a budget to release Happy Feet in IMAX digital 3D. Happy Feet received generally positive reviews from critics, and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, a first for Warner Bros., as well as the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film. It was nominated for the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature and the Saturn Award for Best Animated Film. A sequel, Happy Feet Two, was released on November 18, 2011. Plot Every emperor penguin sings a unique song called a "heartsong" to attract a mate. If the male penguin's heartsong matches the female's song, the two penguins mate. Norma Jean, a female penguin, falls for Memphis, a male penguin and they become mates. They lay an egg, which is left in Memphis' care, while Norma Jean leaves with the other females to fish. While the males struggle through the harsh winter, Memphis briefly drops the egg. As a result, their son, Mumble, is unable to sing, but he can tap dance instead. Nevertheless, he is enamored with Gloria, a female penguin who is regarded as the most talented of her age. One day, Mumble encounters a group of hostile skua, with a leader who is tagged with a yellow band, which he says is from an alien abduction. Mumble narrowly escapes the hungry birds by falling into a crevice. Now a young adult, Mumble is frequently ridiculed by the elders. After escaping from a leopard seal attack, Mumble befriends a group of Adelie penguins called "the Amigos", who embrace Mumble's dance moves and assimilate him into their group. After seeing a hidden human excavator in an avalanche, they opt to ask Lovelace, a rockhopper penguin, about its origin. Lovelace has the plastic rings of a six pack entangled around his neck, which he claims have been bestowed upon him by mystic beings. For the emperor penguins, it is mating season and Gloria is the center of attention. Ramón, one of the Amigos, attempts to help Mumble win her affection by singing a Spanish version of "My Way", with Mumble lip syncing, but the plan fails, and Gloria finds it embarrassing. In desperation, Mumble begins tap dancing in synch with her song. She falls for him and the youthful penguins join in for singing and dancing to "Boogie Wonderland". The elders are appalled by Mumble's conduct, which they see as the reason for their lean fishing season. Memphis begs Mumble to stop dancing, for his own sake, but when Mumble refuses, he is exiled, prompting him to curse revenge on the elders for their blind belief. Mumble and the Amigos return to Lovelace, only to find him being choked by the plastic rings. Lovelace confesses they were snagged on him while swimming off the forbidden shores, beyond the land of the elephant seals. Not long into their journey, they are met by Gloria, who wishes to join with Mumble as his mate. Fearing for her safety, he ridicules Gloria, driving her away. At the forbidden shore, the group finds a fishing boat. Mumble pursues it solo to the brink of exhaustion. He is eventually washed up on the shore of Australia, where he is rescued and kept at Marine World with Magellanic penguins. After a long and secluded confinement in addition to fruitlessly trying to communicate with the humans, he nearly succumbs to madness. When a girl attempts to interact with Mumble by tapping the glass, he starts dancing, which attracts a large crowd. He is released back into the wild, with a tracking device attached to his back. He returns to his colony and challenges the will of the elders. Memphis reconciles with him, just as a research team arrives, proving the claims of the existence of "aliens" to be true. The whole of the colony, even Noah the leader of the elders, engages in dance. The research team returns their expedition footage, prompting a worldwide debate. The governments realize they are overfishing, leading to the banning of all Antarctic fishing. At this, the emperor penguins and the Amigos celebrate. Cast *Elijah Wood as Mumble **E.G. Daily as baby Mumble *Brittany Murphy as Gloria **Alyssa Shafer as baby Gloria *Robin Williams as Ramón *Carlos Alazraqui as Nestor *Lombardo Boyar as Raul *Jeffrey Garcia as Rinaldo *Johnny Sanchez as Lombardo *Nicole Kidman as Norma Jean *Hugh Jackman as Memphis *Robin Williams as Lovelace, the narrator of the movie and Mumble's mentor *Magda Szubanski as Miss Viola *Miriam Margolyes as Mrs. Astrakhan *Hugo Weaving as Noah the Elder *Anthony LaPaglia as Skua Boss *Fat Joe as Seymour **Cesar Flores as baby Seymour *Steve Irwin as Trev *Roger Rose as Leopard Seal